We are already nearing the end of 2026, and everyone is well aware of the current market situation: memory remains at high levels, production capacity is tight, and not only is there no news suggesting any possibility of price cuts, but many also say shortages and price increases will continue. It really isn’t surprising that the next generation of graphics cards has been delayed until 2028. Recently, an overseas leaker claimed that NVIDIA and AMD’s next-generation graphics cards are both expected to launch only in 2028.
Image source: Wccftech
Thinking of waiting for the next generation before buying a graphics card? Rumors say most NVIDIA RTX 60 and AMD RDNA 5 cards are delayed to 2028, with only one AT2 left next year.
According to foreign media Wccftech report, hardware leaker Kepler_L2 recently wrote in a reply to netizens on the AnandTech forum: “AT2 is the only GPU getting released next year. Everything else from both AMD and Nvidia is 2028.” (Original text: AT2 is the only GPU getting released next year. Everything else from both AMD and Nvidia is 2028.)
Image source: Wccftech
Later, an internet user followed up, asking: Didn’t the YouTube channel Moore’s Law is Dead previously say that the RTX 6090 would arrive in 2027? He only replied, “He was wrong.” However, AMD and NVIDIA have not responded so far.
The earliest rumor for AMD RDNA 5 was Q2 2026, but it was later revised to 2027. The NVIDIA Rubin architecture RTX 60 series is widely expected to arrive in 2027, and Moore’s Law is Dead also said this in a video, but according to the latest leak from Kepler_L2, RTX 60 products will not be seen at all in 2027. As a result, both major vendors have pushed their next-generation graphics cards back by a year, with only the AT2 chip expected to be the exception.
AT2 is one of AMD’s next-generation consumer GPU chips. The internal project codename is Alpha Trion, and it is divided by size into several chips from AT0 to AT4. AT0 is the flagship, and the higher the number, the more entry-level. AT2 is positioned in the mid-range, succeeding Navi 48 used in the current RX 9070 XT, and Wccftech believes its competitor is the RTX 5080.
Image source: Wccftech
As for the AT2 specifications, accounts from different sources currently vary widely. Wccftech cites Kepler_L2’s more recent claim of 40 CUs and 5,120 stream processors. Meanwhile, a suspected AMD document previously leaked by MLID indicates AT2 could be as high as 64 CUs and paired with up to 18GB GDDR7. At this stage, these are still unconfirmed leaks.
Below are the rumored specs of the four RDNA 5 chips compiled by Wccftech, all expected to use GDDR7 memory and TSMC’s N3E or N3P process:
| Positioning | Compute Unit (CU) | Streaming Processor | Memory bus | Memory capacity |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Flagship (AT0) | 96 | 12,288 | 512～384-bit | 24～32GB |
| Mid-range (AT2, 2027) | 40 | 5,120 | 384～192-bit | 12～24GB |
| Introduction | 24 | 3,072 | 256～128-bit | 8～16GB |
| Most beginner-friendly | 12 | 1,536 | 128～64-bit | 8～16GB |
As for the reason for the delay, Kepler_L2 didn’t elaborate, but most media outlets believe it’s “memory.”
Since late last year, the three memory makers SK hynix, Samsung, and Micron have prioritized capacity for HBM needed by AI data centers, crowding out memory that ordinary consumers encounter, such as DDR5 and GDDR7, and prices have been climbing steadily. In an interview with Bloomberg in February this year, Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan revealed that he had spoken with two major memory companies, and both gave the same answer: “There will be no significant relief before 2028.” Then at this week’s AI Infrastructure Forum, he went further, saying that some memory prices have already risen 5-7 times, and some companies have even delayed projects because they cannot get enough memory.
Micron also acknowledged that it can meet only 50% to two-thirds of the demand from some major customers, and new fabs will not be completed until mid-2027 or even 2028.
For consumers, if this leak ultimately proves true, the lifespan of the mainstream RTX 50 and RX 9000 generations will likely be stretched to nearly three years, and the odds of them being replaced by a full next-generation product in the short term will also be lower. However, AMD is still rumored to launch AT2 first in 2027, so this cannot be entirely viewed as both companies having “no new cards for three years.”
Source: KOCPC Chinese